Touching the world with social media

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew Hubby
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other, allowing for the free, instant flow of information around the world.

The 436th Airlift Wing has an active presence on both Facebook and Twitter, giving it the ability to reach out to its internal audience and members of the community. By taking advantage of these resources people can establish a direct line of communication with the base.

"We want to interact with our audience so we are able to get coverage of the things that are most important to our internal and external audiences," said 1st Lt. Tony Richardson, chief of public affairs for the 436th Airlift Wing. "Social media is a perfect format to complete our goal because it allows users a direct line to establish dialog with us."

Social media is helpful during normal operations and paramount during a crisis or a change in normal activity. For example, in the instance of delayed reporting and closures, social media allows the public affairs shop to get information out instantaneously, said Richardson.

As important a tool as social media is, it can cause great harm to the mission if wielded improperly.

"For example, you cannot post 'Hey, me and so-and-so are deploying to location XYZ to do this-this-and-this,'" said Richardson. "You cannot go around posting troop movements and other deployment information, which is a huge no-no. There are things that are sensitive in nature or pieces of information that the enemy could gather here-and-there which, put together, could tell a larger story."

With social media growing and print news disappearing worldwide, public affairs offices are adapting to meet the needs of the public.

"We want to inspire public trust and tell the Air Force story," said Richardson. "By being able to establish dialog with our users individually and having them give us feedback - which we welcome - we are able to highlight missions and events important to our audience."

You can follow the 436th Airlift Wing at @436thAirliftWing on Twitter, like them at www.facebook.com\436AirliftWing or visit the base website at www.dover.af.mil.